Beijing monitoring US warship which sailed through Taiwan Strait days after China drills

China on Monday (April 17) said that it has tracked an American warship through Taiwan Strait and further noted that the troops remained on "high alert".

The US Navy on Monday called the sailing of the warship USS Milius through the Taiwan Strait before a "routine" transit. It comes just a few days after China ended its latest war games around the island.

Amid China's continued military aggression in the South China Sea, several Western navies conduct "freedom of navigation operations" regularly. The main aim of these drills is to assert the international status of regional waterways such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

The US Navy said in a statement that the USS Milius guided-missile destroyer "conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit April 16 (local time) through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law".

"The ship transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State," it added.

Meanwhile, China says it has tracked the vessel. Colonel Shi Yi, who is a Chinese military spokesman, said that the troops in the area "remain on a high level of alert at all times and will resolutely defend national sovereignty and security as well as regional peace and stability".

On the other hand, Taiwan's defence ministry said on Monday that during the vessel's transit, its military had "closely monitored the dynamics in our surrounding sea and airspace, and the situation was normal."

Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s and also says that the island nation will defy the one-nation policy by pushing for formal independence. Beijing even claimed that, in case needed, it will use force to unite the two territories.

(With inputs from agencies)

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